People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1893 — SHARKS ANO SUCKERS. [ARTICLE]

SHARKS ANO SUCKERS.

—— > UcTrte a YMr ■Drti « TW Aafaatfe ■■rhi aettioa st Ae aqaaraaa play erary Aqr aad Tfee toarfa da «“<■«=■ to eajsy it These am aalytwo •ftoa kf-.aow. toera wssa Bxat firsutatt toe bogrrst aae.afiveAntor. aad ferae «d toe sawder <aas toed. Chares writ salt water does SCA seem to agree wife feea at aS. Same faQs who feok feera-ffearkn toemseiras ia toe rSiaaig is*ey toat they an> at ml raraa® ataa-eamn, ragniar ■ i tor re < toe deep feat go anmad emittingtoemeeira* by iai ff j,i A legs c« aafiees. These fellows *>« no aui-i pin re. too-ngfc; they are jaat eenmsaoa aaaA sharks caagat in pomadattaaEthrthrckma ecast They are of a -prrirn toad seldom grams to be over five <w sx fra* kmg. Taey eoeld not eat a maa-if toey sraed. bat they eaa make it lirady for the fish ia sagnt when toey rat huagrr. Bat whether these sharks ara ma raters or n<4 toey look exceedtogiy saarky and wicked. They are long aad thin axd dipper-like, and they flit about their tanks like evil shadows. They have curved mouths set away fi*ek under their irxjuisative snout®, •nd toe months have multitudes of fieedle-iike white teeth. One of these sharics. the larger cam. has a. ftc-fistamt cxNapaaion that causes a good deal of comment and guessing among visitors. It is a slender fish about eight inches long that has attached itself, apparently by its trath, to the smooth skin of toe shark's baek. It sticks closer than a brother or a leech. Some of the visitors think it is a young shark. The guard will tell you that it is a pilot fish, bet shows that there are some things which even a Columbian guard does not know. The fish is what the Carolina fishermen call a sucker fish, a remora. If you ask Prof. Forbes of the fish commission ho will tell you that it is the ectjeceis nauerates of linne. That is a pretty imposing name forw> little a fish, but the creature itself is one of the most interesting of swimming thingK The remora has set in the top of its flat head an oral sucker plate, whereby it has an easy time. The remora attaches itself by this sucker plate to the first big fish that comes along and rides around just as lazily as a fat woman in a roller ehair. Whatever the big fish gets to eat the remora has also its share; it catches the crambe and leavings. There is no fish that has more fun and an easier time than thia remora. Some of the West Indians make this parasite work for a living though. They use him for an animated fishhook. They tie a string to his and let him into the water to swim around until he falls afoul of a turtle. Then when he has laid firm hold of the turtle the wise , West Indian bags the wholeoutfit and sets his remora for another turtle.